MASS EXTINCTION UNFOLDS

According to scientists, Earth's species are being exterminated at record pace:

Environmental scientist Professor Norman Myers says the loss of species is more severe than the five mass extinctions of the geological past.

"In the lifetime of many [television news] viewers we could lose half of all those 10 million species around the world," he said.

Professor Myers says if governments do not do more, the planet will continue to lose 50 species per day compared to the natural extinction rate of one species every five years.

Scientists have identified fewer than 2 million out of the hotly disputed total number of species. How can scientists even begin to estimate the number of species to die out in the past when they can't agree on how many exist today?

Since the first modern scientific surveys of life on Earth begun by Linnaeus and his contemporaries in the mid-eighteenth century, ~1.7 million species have been identified and described. Estimates of undiscovered species on Earth range from 10 million to 100 million and The US National Science Board ( 1989) predicted that as many as 25% or more of the Earth's species may become extinct by 2014. Reaching an agreed upon quantity for the status of biodiversity and the trend of species extinction is controversial. The fact that these two topics can ignite deep controversy exemplifies the appalling absence of thorough scientific knowledge and information upon which to base policy.

Hear, hear.